The Red Army
by Blitzwing
Summary: AU - The nation of Russia was completely destroyed in an unprovoked attack almost a century before the One Year War. Survivors flee to space. Fourteen years after the One Year War a group Russian mobile suits launch a campaign of revenge against the Earth
1. Timeline

Note: I am in no way anti-american. I am half Canadian and half American. I just feel this might make a good storyline.   
  
This story is somewhat AU   
  
Prologue  
  
1917 - Russia undergoes revolution and becomes the Soviet Union.   
  
1945 - World War 2 ends, USSR refuses to relinquish captured nations such as Poland.   
  
Late 1940's - USSR perfects Atomic bomb, begins Cold War and Nuclear Arms race with United States.   
  
Early 1990's - USSR collapses, Russian Federation emerges as a capitalist democracy.   
  
2038 - Discontent among working class in Russian Federation due to high taxes, lower incomes.   
  
UC 0005 - Revolution in Russian Federation lead by Olaf Gregoran, Russian Federation returns to Communism under the name Neo Soviet Union. Western Nations prepare for possible conflict. Neo Soviets desire peaceful relations.   
  
UC 0006 - United States launches pre-emptive strike on Neo Soviets, "We will not allow another Cold War!"  
Hundreds of Nuclear weapons rain down on Neo Soviet Union.  
There is no retaliatory strike, Surviving Russians flee to Space colonies.  
Russia becomes radioactive wasteland.  
  
UC 0020 - United States and NATO spearhead initiative to create Earth Federation Government.   
  
UC 0045 - Mysterious attacks on Federation targets by group called Krasnaya Mest', Red Revenge.   
  
UC 0054 - Krasnaya Mest' hunted down and obliterated.   
  
UC 0079 - One Year War, Minerva Zabi hidden away on Axis.   
  
UC 0089 - Minerva Zabi flees Axis to escape Federation attack force, Takes up residence on Asteroid Gamma with remaining Zeon Forces.  
Large scale strikes on Federation supply lines by group calling themselves The Krasnaya Armiya, The Red Army. Leader of Red Army is a man named Ruutu, descendant of Olaf Gregoran.   
  
UC 0094 - Federation posts a huge bounty on the heads of the Red Army members after Ruutu's son Matt destroys a dozen Federation Battleships and kills a top Earth official. Matt engages Federation elite force the Black Dragons and barely escapes after being easily beaten.  
Federation tracks Minerva to Gamma and launches an assult force.  
Goya, Minervas adoptive mother, calls in a favor from former boyfriend Ruutu, Red Army arrives to help evacuate Gamma.  
Black Dragons attack Gamma and destroy Ruutu and the other members of the Red Army. Matt destroys one Black Dragon and damages the other three before being beaten.  
Minerva and Zeons escape.  
  
Up next Chapter One - Fated Meeting 


	2. Fated Meeting

The One Year War is long over. Young Minerva Zabi has been on the run from the Federation Forces since she was but a baby. She managed to stay hidden along with the remains of the Zeon army for almost a decade on the asteroid Axis. When the Federation tracked her down they attacked in force, intending to place Minerva under arrest then place her in prison for the rest of her life. Her only crime was being born a Zabi. After a long battle the Federation force prevailed and stormed Axis, only to find that Minerva had been spirited away to a new hiding spot along with a small portion of the Zeon Army.   
  
  
Minerva lived in a secret asteroid base called Gamma for four years. The Federation tracked her down again when she had just turned fourteen...   
  
  
"What do you mean pack up and get ready to leave! I don't want to have to run away again!" Minerva exclaimed, "Why can't we fight the damned feddies off!"  
"Our forces are crippled and outdated. We don't have the resources to upgrade our Mobile suits." Goya, the female officer who had acted as an adoptive mother to Minerva for her entire life said, "It's estimated that the Federation attack force will be here by tomorrow afternoon, we leave tomorrow morning for the asteroid Vega"  
"I'm tired of hopping from one asteroid to another! Why not hide in a colony for once, there has to be some that are still sympathetic to our cause" Minerva said, "Then maybe I can meet some people my own age instead of being around people all at least fifteen years older than me"  
"There are colonies that are symathetic to us but the Federation is constantly watching them" Goya said, looking out the window, "But that doesn't stop them completely from helping us as much as they can, take a look"  
Minerva looked out and saw a force of a dozen strange mobile suits landing on the surface of the asteroid. The mobile suits looked like a cross between a GM and a Gelgoog and all were painted blood red. Each carried a single long range beam rifle and a multibarrel chain gun as their primary armament. Eleven of the suits landed and began to enter an unused hanger while one fired a tether into the surface of the asteroid and just floated in space.  
"Who are they?" Minerva asked, following Goya out of her room and towards the hanger the units entered. "They're an independant group called the Red Army, they've agreed to help hold off the feddie forces while we escape." Goya said, "Their reputation is quite good, almost fifty feddie suits shot down in less than a month"   
"Can we trust them and aren't they asking for anything in return?" Minerva asked.  
"Yeah we can trust them, I dated their leader in high school" Goya said, blushing slightly, "And they're steadfast supporters of Zeon so they offered it for free."  
"Calling in favors from an old flame eh" Minerva giggled, teasing the older woman, "I never thought you had it in you"  
"Shut up, he's married now!" Goya laughed, coming to the door to the hangar, "It looks like the hangar's been pressurized again, let's go in"  
Minerva and Goya entered the hangar just as the members of the Red Army were climbing out of their suits.   
"Goya!" One of the pilots exclaimed, briskly walking over and removing his helmet to reveal the face of a man in his forties with a bushy white beard and greying hair, "I see age has treated you much better than it has me"  
"Ruutu, It has been a long time, You don't know how much it means to us that you're helping us" Goya said, hugging Ruutu tightly then turning to Minerva, "And this is Lady Minerva Zabi"  
"It is a pleasure Miss Zabi" Ruutu said, kneeling and kissing Minervas hand, making her blush slightly, "It is an honor being asked to defend you"  
"Um.. Thank you?" Minerva said.  
"So who's the pilot still outside?" Goya asked.  
"That is my son" Ruutu said, "He's probably taking a nap right now, the lazy bum, making sure he's well rested for the battle tomorrow, he's easily the best pilot in our force."  
"Then why doesn't land, we can give him some quarters to rest in" Minerva said, "How old is he anyways?"  
"He loves that suit, he spends hours tuning it up and modifying it, He's never been beaten in hand to hand combat" Ruutu said, "Oh, and he just turned sixteen last week"   
"Finally some one my own age!" Minerva exclaimed.  
"He'll probably feel the same way, for the past year we've been constantly terrorizing the feds" Ruutu laughed, "They've put a bounty on our heads so large that even the richest people on earth are hunting for us!"  
"Whoa, even we don't have a bounty on our heads" Goya laughed, "What did you do to piss them off so much?"  
"My son, Matt, got bored and blew up a few battleships, and we took out a top earth official with one of them" Ruutu said, "They never knew what hit them"  
"Well, if you need anything then feel free to ask" Goya said, turning to Minerva, "I think it's time for your mobile suit training, shall we?"  
"Alright" Minerva said, waving to the members of the Red Army, "Bye! Thank you!"  
"Our pleasure, and I mean it, we enjoy beating up the feds" Ruutu laughed.  
  
  
  
Some time later a pair of Zaku II suits launched. One was painted the standard green and the other was painted a royal purple, as was Minervas favorite colour. The two suits walked along the asteroid until they came to a large open spot they always used as a training ground.  
"What say we just duke it out hand to hand today." Goya said.  
"Fine, I'll beat you easily" Minerva said, picking a rock up off the ground.  
"None of that!" Goya snapped, "No rocks this time!"  
"Fine, be no fun" Minerva said, tossing the rock behind her, "Bring it on!"   
  
  
The rock flew through the zero gravity across the surface until it came in contact with an object, the final red mobile suit that was tethered to the surface. The suit shook, violently rousing it's pilot from his slumber.  
"What the hell!" Matt exclaimed, pulling his helmet back on and activating the monitors in his cockpit, "I couldn't have slept that long!"  
The eyes on his suit lit up red and the tether pulled it down to the surface of the asteroid. He scanned around and located where the rock had come from.   
"Two Zakus, couldn't be enemies, I wonder what's up" Matt said, directing his suit towards where Goya and Minerva were practicing.  
"This is Red Army unit Prime Kossack, who is pilotting the two Zakus?" Matt asked the Zeon command center.  
"Well now Prime Kossack, that would be Lady Minerva and Commander Goya, why do you ask?" The Zeon Command center replied.  
"Because they woke me up" Matt replied, firing his verniers and skimming across the landscape towards the two women.  
  
  
  
"You keep getting a lot better, I wouldn't be surprised if you were a new type" Goya said to Minerva.  
"I bet I could take out the entire Black Dragon squad now" Minerva laughed, her joy cut off suddenly when her Zaku shuddered from an explosion right beside it.  
"We're under attack!" Minerva screamed, drawing her Zaku's machine gun.  
"Time to put your training to the test." Goya exclaimed, trying to communicate with the command center, "Comms are jammed!"  
Minerva caught a glimpse of a mobile suit dashing around and opened fire. The shots missed the suit and kicked up a bunch of dust.   
"We're sitting ducks in these old clunkers!" Goya exclaimed. The two aimed their weapons into the dust and awaited any sign of the other mobile suit.   
"You can't even come near to hitting me and you expect to be able to take out the Black Dragons?" The other mobile suit pilot said, appearing behind Minerva and grabbing her suits arms and immobilizing her, "The only time I've ever been beaten was by them."  
"Matt" Goya said, "Your father told us you've never been beaten"  
"Not by regular forces" Matt said, letting go of Minerva's Zaku, "I remember that day well, I was just mopping up the remains of a squad that was sent to ambush us, my father and the rest of the army returned to base feeling confident in my abilities. Just as I destroyed the last GM III I was ambushed by four black mobile suits. I had never seen the design before, I later found out they were custom made suits. Before I could get a shot off they swarmed me, hitting me from all sides. They didn't want to kill me, they wanted to send a message to the rest of the group, they're coming for us"  
"So have you engaged them since?" Minerva asked, jumping back beside Goya.  
"No, I'll tell you the truth, we're actually afraid of them" Matt said, "We're probably more skilled than them, but their suits are far superior to anything we've ever seen"  
"I hope they don't attack us" Goya said, "Then we wouldn't have a chance"  
"Don't worry, as long as we're around you'll be safe" Matt said, turning his suit, "I'm going in so I can sleep without having rocks thrown at me"  
"Sorry" Minerva giggled, turning to Goya, "Maybe we should go in"  
"You're right, load the mobile suits up on the transports and get ready to leave at a moments notice." Goya said, turning her Zaku and heading back to the base.  
  
  
  
"Hey Matt, have a good nap?" Ruutu asked.  
"Until I was hit by a rock thrown by Miss Zabi and your old flame" Matt said, being lowered down.  
"Aw, poor baby" Vash, one of the three female pilots in the Red Army said, "Teach you to be lazy"  
"If I can recall I saved your ass several times just this week" Matt said, slapping her butt as he walked by.  
"Hey! You little!" Vash started as everyone else just laughed at her.  
"You can never insult him and get away with it Vash" Franz, another Red Army member said, "Hell, everyone's had to cover your ass more than once lately."  
"Shut up" Vash said, grabbing a couple of bottles of beer out of a cooler, "Hey Matt, catch"  
"Feddie legal drinking age kiss my ass!" Matt said, popping the cap off and downing a portion of the beer, "Here's to the destruction of another feddie force!"  
"Aye!" The other members cheered, downing their drinks and turning on some lively music.  
  
  
  
"Well the suits are all loaded up and everything is set for our departure" Goya said, "You should head back to your room and get to sleep" "You're right, It's not a good thing to be asleep when you're supposed to be leading your people" Minerva said, "I'll see you again in the morning."  
"Good night Min" Goya said.  
  
  
  
Minerva walked through the base towards her room, passing by Zeon soldiers who were rushing to get everything onto transports. As she walked by the doors to the Red Army's hangar she heard a lot of noise and commotion. She decided to see what the noise was and opened the doors. Her eyes went wide at what she saw.  
"What the hell is going on in here!" Minerva exclaimed, stepping inside only to be grabbed from behind, "Hey!"  
"I have a hostage! You'll never beat me!" Matt exclaimed, using Minerva as a shield and holding a gun at the other Red army member. "Ahh!" Minerva screamed, not knowing what was going on.  
"Come on, that's cheating!" Ruutu said, floating to the ground wearing an odd looking pack on his chest.  
"Yeah, no hostages" Vash said, floating beside Ruutu along with the rest of the Red Army.  
"Meh, now I have you where I want you" Matt laughed, rapidly pulling the trigger on the gun making it emit a cartoony laser blast sound then made each pack worn by another person make an exploding sound, "I win"  
"No you cheated" Franz said, "Lady Minerva is an innocent bystander, she wasn't playing."  
"Aw she doesn't mind" Matt said, throwing his arm around Minervas shoulder, only then noticing she was standing there with a stunned look on her face, "Um hello? Wakey wakey"  
"What the hell is going on here!" Minerva screamed, making Matt stumble back, dropping his gun and holding his ears.  
"Ow!" Matt exclaimed, "What the hell was that for!"  
"Who do you think you are holding me hostage!" Minerva screamed, "Even if you're just playing a game!"   
"Geeze! Sorry" Matt said, backing up a bit, "You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."  
"I should shoot you in the head!" Minerva said, picking the gun up on the floor and aiming it at his head.  
"Um.. That's a toy" Matt said.  
"I know" Minerva said, a grin coming over her scowl as she aimed it at his chest and pulled the trigger, "You lose!"  
"Nice acting" Ruutu said, tossing a pack and gun to Minerva, "Care to join us?"   
"I'd love to! It's nice to see some excitement, it's always so formal around here" Minerva said, putting the pack on and handing Matt his gun back, "Free for all?"  
"As always" Vash said, resetting her pack and gun.   
  
  
"I wonder where Min could be, she said she was going to her quarters but they're empty." Goya said, walking through the base. Her attention was drawn to the Red Army's hangar when she could have sworn she heard Minervas voice. Goya entered the hangar and dropped to the floor as Minerva blew past her laughing her head off.  
"What the!" Goya exclaimed standing up to see thirteen people, most adults, acting like children playing laser tag, "Minerva! You're supposed to be in bed!"  
"Time out!" Matt yelled.  
"Oh come on Goya, I'm having the most fun I've had in years" Minerva said, floating to the ground, "Nothing wrong with that is there?" "I guess not" Goya said, grabbing the last pack, "I'm in!"   
  
  
After an hour or so of playing the laser tag game many of the Red Army soldiers retired to bed for the night. Soon only Ruutu, Goya, Matt and Minerva were still awake.  
"I heard your wife was killed." Goya said, sipping a drink with Ruutu.  
"Yes, most unfortunate, it was during one of the attempted uprisings, she was on her way home from the market when the Feds took her into custody and had her shot, claiming she was a terrorist." Ruutu said, "That's what mainly encouraged me to form the Red Army."  
"I was married too for a while, but he was killed during the one year war." Goya said, "But he went out with a bang, took at least a dozen Feddie suits and a battleship with him."  
"Always a good way to go." Ruutu said, looking over at the Prime Kossack suit, "What do you suppose the two of them are talking about?"  
"Who knows." Goya said, "All that really matters to me is Minerva seems happier than she's ever been."   
  
  
"So after the move what are you going to do?" Minvera asked, sitting beside Matt on the head of the Prime Kossack.  
"Same thing we always do, find Feddies, and blow them up." Matt said, "Why do you ask?"  
"Oh, I was just hoping you'd consider sticking around so I'd have some one closer to my age to be with." Minerva said, "It's no fun being around people twice my age or older all the time."  
"You do know the next youngest member of the Red Army is Vash and she's 23 right?" Matt chuckled, "I'm sure I could find plenty of time to visit."  
"That would be great." Minerva said.  
"Minerva!" Goya called, "It's getting really late, time to go!"  
"Well, like she said." Minerva said, "Good luck tomorrow."  
"Sleep well." Matt said, standing up.  
"You too." Minerva said, suddenly giving him a peck on the cheek before hopping off the suit and floating towards the ground.  
Matt watched as she and Goya left then floated down himself. His father had already retired to bed and he walked past the sleeping forms of the other Red Army members to his bed.  
"Well, looks like little Matt has a little girlfriend." Vash said, looking over from her bed.  
"You must be so disappointed I'm not longer availible." Matt smirked.  
"Yeah, if you were a couple of years older I'd go for you in a second." Vash said sarcastically, "And I could do things to you she'd never be able to."  
"Really." Matt said, flopping down beside her, "Prove it and maybe I'll consider you."  
"Hey! Get out of my bed!" Vash exclaimed, trying to push Matt out, "Get out!"  
"Aw, I thought you loved me." Matt laughed and hopped off the bed and headed to his own, leaving Vash scowling at him.   
  
  
The next morning Minerva awoke to a start as the entire base shuddered and alarms started blaring.  
"Prepare to evacuate!" a voice came over the loud speaker as Goya burst in.  
"Hurry Min! The attack's started!" Goya exclaimed, "We have to get out of here!"  
"I'm glad I slept in my clothes!" Minerva said, leaping out of bed and running out with Goya. They ran past a window and could see the Red Army mobile suits taking off and engaging the Federation GMs.   
"It's a good thing most of the supplies were sent off last night, the Feds are trying to blockade the asteroid." Goya said, "I hope we can get through."   
  
  
The Red Army mobile suits flew in formation head on to the Federation forces. One of the suits suddenly dropped out of the formation and dropped down into a rocky outcropping near Minerva's shuttle launch ramp.   
"I know you're out there." Matt said, cutting the power to his suit and making himself undetectable, "I'm not afraid, I'm better than you all combined and I will prove it."  
  
  
  
"Ruutu to Red Army, let's jam their comms." Ruutu said, popping a disc into a drive on his chair. Suddenly all the communication lines were filled with nothing but heavy metal music. Swarms of Jeagans and GMIII's flew at the eleven red mobile suits and the battle began.   
  
  
"Are we go to launch?" Goya asked the pilot of the shuttle.   
"Yes ma'am, except we have a group of cruisers scanning for us and ready to intercept us." The pilot said.  
"We'll worry about that when we're enroute." Goya said, returning to her seat.  
"What's happening?" Minerva asked.  
"Things are going to be bumpy." Goya said as the shuttle took off.   
  
  
"That's seven!" Ruutu laughed as he blew up another Federation suit. Suddenly a horrified look came over his face as he saw two of his comrades explode. Four black mobile suits zipped around the battlefield. One of them broke away and charged at Minerva's transport  
"You'll pay for this!" Ruutu screamed, charging the remaining three Black Dragons along with the remaining Red Army members.  
  
  
  
"Oh no!" Minerva screamed, seeing the Black Dragon charging at them.  
"Heaven help us." Goya said, shutting her eyes.   
  
  
"I knew it." Matt said, Returning to full power and jettisoning his beam rifle and chain gun, "Prime Kossack Full Charge!"  
The Prime Kossacks verniers began to glow as ports on it's legs and torso began to open and glow as well. From the forearms emerged a pair of energy blades. The Prime Kossack blasted away from the surface. It flew at almost three times normal speed towards the Black Dragon. Before the black suit could react the Prime Kossack slammed into it and cut into the cockpit, killing the pilot. Matt swung around and decapitated the immobile suit then cut an arm off before leaving it to float, dead in space.   
  
  
"Whoo! Go Matt!" Minerva cheered as Goya and the other passengers on the shuttle sighed with relief and then joined in. A Mega Particle blast suddenly whizzed by the shuttle and caught Matt's attention. The Prime Kossack rocketed toward the group of cruisers blocking the shuttles path. One by one the Kossack cut into them and caused their reactors to breach and explode. Suddenly, the heavy metal music that filled the radio waves dissappeared .  
"The hell?" Matt asked himself, bringing his suit around and looking out towards the main battle.   
"I did my best, goodbye..." Ruutu's voice came over the radio line then suddenly turned to static sound as a large bright explosion could be seen.  
"No!" Matt exclaimed, charging his suit towards the explosion. Before he got half way there he was met by a pair of Black Dragons with beam sabers drawn, "You're dead!"  
The Prime Kossack and the two Black Dragons engaged in a fierce melee. Matt fended off blows from both the suits. He saw an opening and stabbed one of his blades into the shoulder joint of one of the Black Dragons. The third Black Dragon arrived on the scene at that time and sliced into the Prime Kossacks arm. Matt flew back, now with only one blade to defend himself. The two undamaged Black Dragons converged on the Prime Kossack. Matt deactivated his blade, knowing it was hopeless to continue. He had done his job, Minerva's transport was safely away and cloaked.   
  
  
"How many people can say they died after disabling two of the Black Dragons?" Matt's voice came in over the speakers in Minerva's shuttle, "But I'll be back..."  
"No!" Minerva exclaimed as the comm line cut out and there was a bright explosion off in the distance. "No..."  



	3. Rise from the Dead

Gundam MK Dead - This is an AU, there is no longer any Titans(they were wiped out), no Londo Bell, just the Earth Federation. And The Black Dragons aren't an actual faction, just a small special forces team and as for your plot summery, that describes a generic romance, but I'm unique (just like everyone else lol)  
  
Minerva managed to escape the Federation for another two years before finally being caught. She was stripped of her uniform and force to dress in a prison jumpsuit for the cameras. She was taken to Earth alongside Goya and a handful of other officers. Much of the remaining Zeon forces escaped to a secret lunar base and were plotting a final desperate attack in hope to rescue Minerva and possibly inspire the colonies to rise up again.  
  
A huge press conference was being held at a space port. Minerva was forced to stand on a stage in front of hundreds of reporters while the leader of the Earth gave a speech. Goya and the others were being held somewhere in a prison. Behind the stage stood the Black Dragons mobile suits. Halfway through the speech an aide ran up to the speaker and gave some frantic sounding news.  
  
"The Red Army? Impossible they were wiped out!" The speaker exclaimed, loud enough that Minerva could hear and her mood suddenly became happier.  
  
"I'm sure of it sir, there's a single mobile suit headed this way" The aide replied.  
  
"One suit, is nothing, the Black Dragons will take care of it" The speaker said, signalling to the trio of black mobile suits behind him. Almost on cue a flaming object came streaking through the sky heading right towards crowds. The object stopped almost on a dime a few feet off the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. It took a few seconds for the object to become visible. It looked like a mobile suit in a round white pod of some sort. The head was easily recognized as being from one of the previous gundam models.  
  
"Tell him the rest of the news!" A voice came from the new mobile suit.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" The speaker asked.  
  
"It seems that side three, six and two have began open rebellion and have reformed the Duchy of Zeon" The aide said, the news causing Minerva to smile slightly, "They're demanding we turn over the prisoners at once"  
  
"How dare they!" The speaker roared, "Don't they know our forces can crush them with ease!"  
  
"Um, they've been secretly building up armies over the past years, they can't match us but we'd take massive casualties." The aide said, "But they are preaching peaceful intentions"  
  
"I however have no such intentions, I, being the only survivor of the Black Dragons ambush, now lead the new Red Army and I fully intend to attack and destroy any Federation unit I come across" The new Mobile Suit said.  
  
"What makes you think you can just waltz down here to Earth and make these demands?" The speaker asked, "Especially when I have my Black Dragons right behind me"  
  
"Once you release Lady Minerva and the other prisoners I fully intend to destroy your Black Dragons" The Pilot of the suit said.  
  
"Ha! Enough of this, We most certainly will not turn over our prisoners and you will not leave here alive" The Speaker scoffed.  
  
"Have it your way, Major Nex! Twice we've fought and twice you've won, I assure you this time I won't lose." The suit pilot said.  
  
"If that is who I think it is then this will not be a challenge" Major Nex replied, "Eh, Prime Kossack!"  
  
"Prime Kossack was the name of my suit you moron, say hello to Grand Tsar!" Matt replied, throwing his new suit into battle mode. The white pod began to split and rotate to extend out, built to look like the wings of an angel. Major Nex was taken back when he saw the body of the suit Matt had destroyed on Gamma, the decorative Dragon head on the chest replaced by a Bears head.  
  
"Where did you get that!" Nex demanded.  
  
"Federation junk yard, where I was dumped with my old suit after you killed my friends." Matt replied.  
  
"Bah, it makes no difference, only skill of the pilot matters!" Nex exclaimed, his wingmen Bronte and Durante skidding across the ground into a triangle attack formation.  
  
"Call in reinforcements, just in case" The speaker ordered, "Take her some place secure and get everyone else out of here! We'll take care of this colony situation after we kill this insolent flea"  
  
"Get moving Zeon scum" A guard said, smacking Minerva in the back as he forced her to move.  
  
"I'll be nice and let you make the first move" Nex said, drawing his beam rifle, "You have three seconds."  
  
"More than enough time" Matt said, kicking his verniers to max and blasting across the ground for Bronte.  
  
"What the hell! He's too fast!" Bronte exclaimed, trying to block as Matt slammed into his suit. The Grand Tsar grabbed the shoulders of Brontes Black Dragon and was powerful enought to physically rip the arms off it. With a quick slash from his beam saber Matt finished Bronte off by cutting right through his cockpit.  
  
"You'll regret that! Durante! Open fire!" Nex screamed, removing his suits chain gun from the back holder and letting loose a spray of shells in Matt's direction.  
  
"Right boss" Durante said, following Nex's lead. Matt took to the air, zipping back and forth dodging the streams of glowing bullets until he saw an opening and flew full speed towards the two. He stopped a few metres from the two Black Dragons and pulled out a pair of beam sabres. Nex and Durante dropped their chain guns and brought out their own sabres just in time to block a swipe from Matt.  
  
"Fool! No one's ever beaten two of us at once!" Nex laughed.  
  
"Always a first" Matt replied, dropping down and sweeping the legs out from under Nex's suit. Matt then drove his sabres into the chest of Durantes suit and throttled his verniers, pushing Durante's suit back until it slammed into a building, leaving Durante dead.  
  
"Damnit!" Nex yelled, looking around then smirking when he saw the guard pushing Minerva along, "You want the Zabi scum, try and save her!"  
  
"You bastard!" Matt screamed, leaping into the air and heading for Minerva as Nex opened fire with his head vulcans, causing a path of small explosions to head for Minerva.  
  
"Nooo!" Minerva screamed as the guard ran for his life. She closed her eyes expecting to die but opened them when she heard a huge metallic thunk followed by the sounds of bullets ricocheting off metal. She looked to see the Grand Tsar crouched over her, using it's wings to encase her in a protective shield.  
  
"You can't last forever!" Nex laughed wildly, "You'll pay for killing Bronte and Durante!"  
  
"Do you think I'd really be stupid enough to come here all alone?" Matt asked smugly, "Panzers! Now!"  
  
"What!" Nex exclaimed as his suit suddenly rocked hard and everything shut down. As his suit fell he managed to spin around to see a squad of four heavy looking mobile suits, each carrying a beam sniper rifle aimed at him, and one that looked similar to a Jeagan but painted different, "Damned kid! Go ahead, finish me off!"  
  
"I don't think so" Matt said, not releasing Minerva from the protective shield, "I'm going to let you live with the shame that you were beaten by a meer boy, unlike you I'm not a monster who will kill everyone in a battle for the hell of it"  
  
"I'm going to get you for this!" Nex screamed right before his communications died.  
  
Minerva watched as the wings retracted and folded behind the Tsar. The suits hand reached down, allowing her to step onto it then lift her to to chest. The cockpit opened and she practically threw herself at Matt, hugging him tight on the verge of tears.  
  
"Are you alright?" Matt asked, putting a comforting arm around her.  
  
"I was so scared, I almost died and you risked you life for me again" Minerva said, "I thought you had been killed two years ago"  
  
"I almost was, but I lived and I came back to visit you, as I promised I always would." Matt said as Minerva looked into his eyes, seeing for the first time a large scar that extended from his forehead, over his left eye and half way down his cheek.  
  
"My god what happened?!" Minerva exclaimed, sitting up on his lap.  
  
"Long story" Matt replied, smiling, "Let's free the others and get out of here"  
  
"Is it true?" Minerva asked, "About the colonies declaring themselves a new Duchy of Zeon?"  
  
"Yep, And they're waiting for you to lead them" Matt said, making his suit stand up and walk towards the prison complex not far away, "Tsar to Kaiser, spread out and destroy any backup that might be on the way"  
  
"You got it cap'n" A Man a few years older than Matt said, "Leave it to me and the Panzers"  
  
"Who's he?" Minerva asked.  
  
"Jorg Gren, better known as Kaiser, he was a former Titan who until recently worked as a freelancer" Matt said, "And the Panzers are the Red Army elite squad."  
  
"Why didn't you ever come back to see me before now?" Minerva asked.  
  
"I spent almost a year trapped in the feddie junkyard, then I couldn't find you" Matt said, his suit stopping in front of the prison, "According to my intel Goya and the rest should be in these three cells"  
  
"Ma'am, the battles over, you should take a look" An officer said, looking out the barred window, "On second thought, get back!"  
  
"Huh?" Goya said, looking over as the wall suddenly crumbled away giving her a perfect view of the Grand Tsar, "They did it! They beat the Black Dragons!"  
  
The cockpit opened and Minerva waved to Goya as the Tsar's hand extended to allow the prisoners onto it.  
  
"Min! Thank god you're safe! Thank you so much Matt!" Goya exclaimed.  
  
"Have you heard the news! Sides three, six and two have declared independance and are reforming the Duchy!" Minerva called, "We don't have to run anymore!"  
  
"I can't believe it!" Goya laughed, hopping off the hand.  
  
"There should be a shuttle landing soon to take you back to space" Matt said, "You should go with them Minerva"  
  
"No, I want to stay right here, I feel safer with you" Minerva said.  
  
"Fine, but going back into space may make you pass out if you aren't used to the G-forces." Matt said as the shuttle landed and he finished letting the prisoners down to the ground, "See on the Diablo Goya"  
  
"See you later!" Goya called, rushing onto the shuttle as the sounds of the Panzers engaging the federation reinforcements off in the distance could be heard.  
  
"Ready to go?" Matt asked, sealing the cockpit.  
  
"Yep" Minerva smiled, "I can't wait to get out of this jumpsuit"  
  
"Here we go" Matt said, extending the Grand Tsars wings and activating to booster engines within them as well as his verniers, "Lift off!"  
  
Minerva felt the G-forces pushing on her as the Tsar rocketed into the sky, gaining speed as it neared the barrier between the atmosphere and space. A few moments after lifting off she felt the weight lifted from her as all gravity disappeared.  
  
"I missed this" Minerva laughed as she floated around the cockpit.  
  
"There's the Diablo" Matt said, setting a course for a trio red painted Musai crusiers.  
  
"That thing is almost twenty years old!" Minerva said, "Why do you use them?"  
  
"Refit them properly and they are still formidable" Matt said, "And they were the best we could get right now"  
  
"I can't believe all that's happened" Minerva said, settling down next to Matt, "Just fifteen minutes ago I was a prisoner and now I'm going to lead a nation"  
  
"Lifes funny isn't it?" Matt said, guiding his suit to one of the custom added mobile suit docking ports added to the Musai's. A small tube extended out and formed a seal between the port and the cockpit hatch. Minerva floated out of the cockpit and into the corridor where she was met by a pair of soldiers in Red Army uniforms, who gave her an odd look, but stopped and saluted when Matt emerged.  
  
"Bring Miss Zabi to some quarters and get her some new clothes, get ready to depart as soon as Kaiser and the Panzers return" Matt ordered.  
  
"Sir!" The soldiers said.  
  
"When you're cleaned up and dressed I'll be on the bridge" Matt said as Minerva followed the soldiers down the corridor, "And how many times do I have to tell you guys no formalities!"  
  
"Sorry sir! oops!" One of the soldiers corrected himself.  
  
"Federation army doesn't train it's soldiers it brainwashes them" Matt chuckled to himself as he headed for the locker room to take off his pilot suit.  
  
Within half an hour the shuttle carrying Goya and the others arrived alongside the Panzers and the fleet left Earth orbit destined for side three. Minerva, having washed up and changed into the provided outfit, headed towards the bridge of the ship only to bump into Goya on her way.  
  
"Min!" Goya exclaimed, hugging the younger girl, "Did the feddies hurt you at all?"  
  
"Yes, but now they're regretting it" Minerva said smiling, "Come up to the bridge after you get cleaned up and changed!"  
  
"All right" Goya said, following the soldier who was leading her to some quarters.  
  
Minerva made her way through the ship until she came to the bridge. Matt was standing and watching out the large bridge window.  
  
"Fit well?" Matt asked, referring to Minerva's new uniform.  
  
"How'd you guess my size?" Minerva asked.  
  
"Wasn't my job, I don't know womens sizes." Matt said, pointing out the main window, "Look, there one of your fleets."  
  
"That's big..." Minerva said a dozens of battleships could be seen off in the distance.  
  
"Incoming communication." The comms officer said, "Coming from the Zeon fleet."  
  
"Put them on." Matt said, turning to a screen and pushing Minerva out of the Zeons field of view, "And what can we do for you today?"  
  
"Identify yourselves" the Zeon fleet commander said.  
  
"I am Commander Matt G. of the Red Army." Matt said, not revealing his last name.  
  
"Red Army, you were wiped out two years ago!" The Zeon commander said.  
  
"Well here we are stronger than ever." Matt said, "What's with the major military buildup?"  
  
"We're in the middle of a rescue operation. Lady Minerva Zabi must be rescued from the Federation prison and the Black Dragons must be destroyed." The Zeon commander said, "You're welcome to join in, but if you don't want to we must ask you staqy clear of the area."  
  
"Well my friend, we have just saved you a lot of time and effort." Matt said, pulling Minerva back into view, "Presenting Lady Minerva Zabi, safe and sound courtesy of the Red Army. And the Black Dragons, let's just say I had a very large beef to pick with them."  
  
"Well I'll be damned." The Zeon Commander, "Lady Minerva, it's a pleasure. We shall send a transport to bring you home."  
  
"That's alright, I want the Red Army to transport me home." Minerva said, leaning against Matt, "Just lead the way."  
  
"As you wish." The Zeon Commander said, "Sending co-ordinates."  
  
"Thank you sir." Matt said, as the comm link cut off, "Interesting turn of events."  
  
"Yes, No more running." Minerva said, "And are you going to stay?"  
  
"I'd love to but there's something big that's going to happen soon and I'm needed." Matt said, "But, if we have permission, we could regularly visit the new Duchy to resupply."  
  
"You do realize you're talking to the new leader of Zeon right?" Minerva asked.  
  
"Where?" Matt asked, getting punched by Minerva.  
  
A while later the Red Army and the Zeon Fleets arrived at the colony Volt. The Red Army fleet docked inside the massive hangar bay while the Zeons remained outside in a defensive position.  
  
"Well, ready to meet your adoring puclic?" Matt asked Minerva as she, Goya and the rest of the Zeon officers stood around waiting to leave the ship.  
  
"It won't be that big of a turn out." Minerva said as the door opened and she stepped out onto the platform. Her jaw dropped as a roar of celebratory cheers came from the thousands of people gathered in the hangar awaiting her.  
  
"Told ya." Matt said, putting an arm around he shoulders and walking with her.  
  
"Amazing, this whole thing must have been in the works for years!" Goya exclaimed.  
  
"Fourteen to be exact." An aging man said, stepping out of the door into the main colony, "My name is Herb, It warms my heart greatly to see you safe."  
  
"All your thanks should go to the members of the Red Army." Minerva said, noticing Matt listening to something from a communicator, "They defeated the Black Dragons like it was nothing."  
  
"We cannot thank you enough!" Herb said, grabbing Matts hand and shaking it vigourously, "You must stay and be the guests of honor at the banquet tonight!"  
  
"As much as I'd like to I'm afraid I must decline, we need to move out right away." Matt said, putting the communicator down.  
  
"But why!" Minerva exclaimed, staring into Matt's eyes.  
  
"We just recieved a message from a spy in the Federation Blue Earth ship yard, Something we've been monitoring for a long time is on the move and we need to capture it." Matt said, "I'm very sorry but if all goes well then we should be back within the week."  
  
"Fine.. But if you're not back by then I'll have the entire army of Zeon hunting you down!" Minerva snapped, making Matt laugh.  
  
"This time there's no Black Dragons to stop me." Matt said, giving a little bow then dashing back towards the command Musai. Soon after the trio of Red Army ships left Volt and headed off into space at full speed.  
  
In deep space a fleet of Federation battleships departed on a mission that was supposed to be top secret. The fleet was there to escort a new prototype Super Battleship from Blue Earth to the Federation Space Fortress Crown for final tests. The Super Battleship was almost three times the size of the largest Federation battleship and was designed to be the flagship of the fleets. It had no crew on it for the voyage and was being towed by a pair of old looking tug vessels. Dozens of mobile suits escorted the battleships ready to engage. The fleet arrived at the halfway point in the mission. Up ahead was an old looking Kossack, a second survivor of the slaughter that occurred at Gamma.  
  
"What a time for the rear sensors to die on me!" Vash screamed, smacking the console infront of her, "Damned piece of junk, how am I supposed to resurrect the Red Army with just one cruddy mobile suit!"  
  
She adjusted a radio knob and began intercepting messages from the oncoming Federation fleet.  
  
"The usual interfleet messages, they haven't detected me yet." Vash said, suddenly hearing something different.  
  
"Incoming units! It's the same force that slaughtered the Black Dragons!" A Federation officer said, "The Red Army!"  
  
"The hell? I'm the Red Army!" Vash exclaimed, throwing on her engines and charging towards the fleet. From the right came a group of Mega Particle blasts that impacted on one of the battleships and caused it to explode.  
  
"Grand Tsar and Panzers ready to go in, Diablo, fire Starbursts and take out some of the mobile suits. Tiamat and Grendal, fire on the battleships but don't hit the prototype." Matt said, disengaging from the Dialo in his suit and flying towards the convoy. The Panzers followed close behind as a salvo of shots from the Diablo whizzed past. The shots flew near the battleships and exploded, sending shrapnel in all directions and crippling a number of mobile suits. The Panzers began firing their long range weapons at the battleships, sending them up in flames one by one. Matt continued on closer and as soon as he was within range the battleships opened fire with anti-aircraft weapons. Federation mobile suits began charging Matt with their beam rifles at the ready.  
  
"Bring it on!" Matt said as another battleship exploded from the Panzers, leaving only three remaining. The Grand Tsar pulled a pair of compact beam rifles out and began rapidly firing and destroying the Federation GMIII's that were attacking. The battleships stopped firing once their own suits were in the line of fire.  
  
"This is the Red Army commander to all Federation units, the battle is lost for you, Join with us and you will not be harmed!." Matt said, broadcasting to all remaining Federation units.  
  
"This is Federation battleship York, we're standing down and willing to join you." A commander with a russian accent said.  
  
"This is Federation battleship Adder, We're also standing down." Another federation officer said.  
  
"Traitors! Fight!" The commander of the third exclaimed, aiming his turrets at the other two ships. Suddenly there was a flurry of beam fire as the remaining mobile suits turned against the Federation. The last enemy battleship exploded and all the firing stopped. Vash then finally arrived on the scene.  
  
"Well I'll be damned, a Kossack." Matt snickered as the Panzers closed in. The Federation Mobile suits returned to the remaining battleships, "Who are you?"  
  
"A better question is who are you!" Vash snapped.  
  
"Ah, I know who that is." Matt said, "So Vash, disappointed I'm still alive."  
  
"More relieved, I haven't had anyone to insult." Vash replied.  
  
"Welcome home Vash, Red Army's back!" Matt said, heading for the Super Battleship, "And we have a new toy, I christen this ship the Volga!"  
  
Vash and the Panzers followed Matt into the Volga's mobile suit decks as the Diablo launched a shuttle with a skeleton crew for the new vessel.  
  
Once landed Matt, Kaiser, The Panzers and Vash left their suits in the large Mobile suit deck and headed through an airlock.  
  
"Oh god it's good to see you again!" Vash said, wrapping her arms around Matt and squeezing him.  
  
"Okay, need to breathe..." Matt said, freeing himself, "So tell me, how did you get away?"  
  
"After I saw your suit crippled at the battle of Gamma I hightailed it out of there." Vash said, somewhat embarassed, "If you couldn't take out the Black Dragons then I had no hope."  
  
"Didn't you know he just destroyed the remaining three a few hours ago?" Kaiser asked.  
  
"No way in hell!" Vash exclaimed.  
  
"Saved Minerva Zabi too, and with the return of the Duchy we have a place to rest with protection if needed." One ofthe Panzers said.  
  
"We'll get all caught up later, let's head to the bridge and set course for Fortress Moscow." Matt said, "I'll also fill you in on Operation Red Dawn."  
  
Fortress Moscow, hidden on the dark side of the moon. Constructed by the members of the Krasnaya Mest', the Red Revenge decades before and abandoned after the Federation wiped them out. The Red Army found the fortress and turned it into a base of operations. The three new ships in the Red Army Fleet docked and began to be transformed and refitted to Red Army specification. The Volga was done within a week and left with an escort consisting of the Tiamat and the Grendal. It headed back to Volt, as promised by Matt to Minerva.  
  
On Minerva's side things weren't looking so peachy. It was decided that she wasn't old enough to take full control. She still had some power but wouldn't take total control until her eighteenth birthday. Goya came up with an idea that Minerva didn't like one bit. She suggested sending Minerva to school for a year, to give other youths an example to follow. It was halfway through her first week and no one would leave her alone since she was the great Minerva Zabi, leader of the Duchy. It was the middle of classes when one of the other students noticed something big.  
  
"Whoa! Look at the size of that ship!" One of the students exclaimed, looking out the window and at one of the large sections of glass that allowed a view into space.  
  
Everyone in the class crowded to the window, but leaving plenty of room for Minerva to go and look.  
  
"What is that thing?" Another student asked.  
  
"It looks like it's coming to dock." A third said.  
  
"It couldn't be." Minerva said, pulling a communcator that linked right to the central command off her belt.  
  
"This is Red Army Super Battleship Volga requesting permission to dock." Vash's voice came.  
  
"Zeon command to Volga, you have permission to dock, where did you get that thing?" The Zeon control officer said.  
  
"Gift from the feddies." Vash replied, "Volga out."  
  
"Hey Minerva, it was the Red Army that rescued you?" A student asked.  
  
"Yes, and I am going to hurt the leader very badly." Minerva said as students returned to their seats.  
  
"Why?" The student who sat next to her asked.  
  
"Because he promised he's be back in a week and he's late!" Minerva said, starting to chuckle.  
  
When school was over Minerva arrived back at the presidental palace with a small group of other students. They were assigned a group project and were getting started working on it.  
  
"Look at this place, this is a palace!" Ami, one of Minerva's friends said.  
  
"It's more than I deserve." Minerva said, opening the door.  
  
"Don't be so modest, you're going to lead Zeon! You deserve this!" Meg, her other friend said, following the other two inside.  
  
"I had to see this to believe it!" Matt said, breaking out into laughter, "You forced into school! This is too much!"  
  
"Shut up!" Minerva snapped, kicking Matt in the shin.  
  
"Ow! See if I come to visit you again!" Matt said, still laughing.  
  
Back on Earth, Major Nex had just been released from hospital with a clean bill of health. His entire time was spent cursing Matt and the Red Army and plotting revenge.  
  
He walked through a Federation test facility with another officer.  
  
"I can understand your anger, having been undefeated then suddenly being defeated so easily." The other officer said.  
  
"Shut up unless you want to get hurt." Nex replied, "I just want something that will allow me to crush that little worm."  
  
"Did you hear the latest that has command's panties in a bunch?" The other officer asked, "The Red Army attacked the convoy moving the new prototype battleship then stole it. It was spotted by a spy docking in the colony Volt."  
  
"He seems close to the Zabi girl, perhaps if I took her out it would crush his spirits." Nex sneered.  
  
"That would also be a big help for Operation Chaos to Order." The officer said, coming to a door an punching a code in, "Kill the Zabi girl, demoralize the new Zeon then we can crush this rebellion in no time. This is the newest prototype mobile suit. It's so advanced that your old suit wouldn't stand a snowflakes chance in hell of even hitting it."  
  
"Excellent, That little punk is going to suffer for making a fool of me." Nex said, smirking as he looked over the new suit.  
  
To Be Continued....  
  
Coming up next time!  
  
Assassination attempt, "I never want to see you again!", Red Dawn.... 


	4. Rage of a Fallen Nation

  
Disclaimer: Blitzwing owns the Blitzkrieg Armada, all his original characters and suit designs but doesn't own Gundam.  
  
The Red Army  
  
"What's going on?" General Crom asked.  
"It's really odd sir, several asteriods have left their normal orbits and are headed for Side Seven." A comms officer said.  
"That is odd, dispatch a scout fleet to investigate." General Crom said.  
"Yes Sir." The comms officer said.  
'What the devil is going on? First the Red Army returns and steals our new ship, Half the colonies declare independance, now this.' General Crom thought.  
  
"Welcome ladies to the Super Battleship Volga, stolen last week from the Federation." Matt said, leading Minerva, Ami and Meg into the massive ship.  
"I didn't know it was possible to build ships this size." Minerva said, "So much for using Musais"  
"I'm only here until tomorrow morning then we depart for our base again." Matt said, "The Red Army engineers want to try to reverse engineer the technology used to create this ship so we can build more."  
"Sweet, can I have one? My birthday is coming up!" Ami exclaimed, then breaking out laughing.  
The group went around the ship, getting a good look at everything and forgetting about the project that was due. The ship was mostly empty as most of the crew was in the colony on leave. After a few hours and dinner onboard Matt took Minerva and her friends back home before retiring for the night. The next morning the Volga departed early and headed back to Fortress Moscow. Shortly after the Volga left an odd black mobile suit approached the colony.  
  
"Miss Zabi, care to explain why your group is the only one the didn't complete the project?" The teacher asked.  
"Well, the reason is.." Minerva started.  
"Minerva's boyfriend came by and showed us that huge ship that flew by yesterday." Ami said.  
"Yeah, he's the leader of the Red Army." Meg added.  
"Well that is no ex....What the hell!" the teacher exclaimed, noticing the odd black mobile suit landing on the schools field.  
"That's a feddie symbol!" Minerva exclaimed as suddenly a pair of Zeon Omega Zakus landed on either side of the Black suit. A squad of Zeon soldiers rushed into the classroom and grabbed Minerva, trying to rush her to safety.  
"Everyone away from the windows!" The teacher screamed, ushering students out of the room as one of the Omega Zakus fell.  
  
"Why aren't more suits here!" Minerva exclaimed.  
"Most were sent in to be refitted, those are all we had available." One of the soldiers said, "We've got our best pilots out there, they'll take them out.  
"We've also sent out calls to all ships to send help." A second soldier said.  
"What about everyone else?" Minerva demanded.  
"We're sending transports to evacuate them." The first soldier said, helping Minerva into an armored vehicle.  
  
"Matt, we're getting a distress call from Volt." Vash said from her captains seat.  
"Video?" Matt asked, bringing a nod from Vash, "Bring it up."  
The images of the remaining Omega Zaku fighting the mysterious suit came onto the main view screens.   
"Nex...." Matt said, "Prep the Grand Tsar, I'm going after him!"   
"Right." Vash said, activating the red alert status.  
  
"Where are you little boy." Nex said, stabbing his sabre into the second Zaku, "Come and meet my Panther Claw."  
Nex moved towards the school, thinking Minerva was still there. From his suits forearm emerged a chaingun which he aimed at the building. The chaingun roared to life and the huge shots impacted the building and levelled it with most people still inside.  
  
"No! Ami! Meg!" Minerva screamed upon seeing the building attacked. Her vehicle suddenly shook as the massive Grand Tsar flew overhead. The Grand Tsar charged the Panther Claw and raked the ground with it's head vulcans.  
"Nex, I gave you the chance to live and you essentially spit in my face, I won't make the same mistake twice." Matt sneered, opening his wings and arming his sabre.  
  
"I won't even need a weapon to beat you." Nex replied.   
The Grand Tsar charged with it's sabre in front of it. Just as it seemed the Panther Claw would be impaled it sidestepped at the last second and slammed a kick into the back of the Grand Tsar. The Tsar slid along the ground, crushing everything in it's path. Before the Tsar could regain it's footing the Claw was on top of it and began stomping it to the ground. The Tsar managed to flip around and catch the foot before it could stomp down again and flipped the Panther Claw off it's feet. The Tsar's verniers kicked in and it skimmed along the ground until it crashed into something, Minerva's presidental house. The Tsar took the oppourtunity to get to it's feet, further levelling the building. Just as it got to it's feet the Panther Claw was almost ontop of it again, this time with three short glowing blades protruding from it's hand. Just as the Claw was about to slash the Tsar the Tsar's verniers roared to life again and shot the suit into the air. The flames from the engines set the ruins of Minerva's home ablaze.  
  
"Stop it! No! Goya!" Minerva screamed, trying everything to get out of the car and find her adoptive mother.  
  
"He's tougher this time." Matt growled to himself, "No time like the present to test this, Full mobility! Go!"  
With the press of a few buttons the cockpit began to change. The seat and main control panel retracted and left Matt standing there. hundreds of tiny wires shot out and connected to Matts suit all over, suspending him in the middle of the spherical cockpit.   
"Full motion interface active, tracking pilot movement." The computerized voice said as a pair of virtual reality googles came in place over Matts eyes.   
"Let's see how you match up against me now!" Matt screamed, the Grand Tsar matching every movement his body made. He kicked the verniers and booster thrusters to max and dove at the Panther Claw.  
"Suicidal fool!" Nex laughed, preparing the slash the Tsar. The Claw slashed at the Tsar and missed as the Tsar ducked then swept the Claws legs out. The Tsar leapt up and slammed down with it's sabre, but hit bare ground as the Claw skidded away using Verniers. The Claw regained it's footing and pulled a large beam rifle from it's back holdster.  
"This colony is expendable!" Nex screamed firing a blast at the Tsar, only have it miss as the Tsar did a back flip over the beam. The beam slammed into the side of the colony and blew out a big hole. Matt, blinded by the rage he had fallen into during the fight, pulled both his beam rifles out and began firing wildly at Nex and the Claw, blowing up more of the colony. the Claw moved skillfully and dodged the blasts for a while, until one errant shot struck his suit and went right through his shoulder.  
"Damnit! How could he have hit me!" Nex screamed, "It doesn't matter, the Zabi girl is dead and once I self destruct this suit, so will you!"  
"Have fun talking to yourself!" Matt exclaimed, kicking all of his boosters to maximum and making his escape through one of the many holes in the now breaking apart colony.  
"Good bye Red Army Scum!" Nex laughed, detonating the nuclear warhead he replaced the self destruct bomb with. The colony suddenly exploded in a nuclear fury as the Grand Tsar flew like a bat out of hell away. A small shuttle containing Minerva flew away as well.  
"No... the entire colony..." Minerva said, tears streaming down her cheeks as the Grand Tsar flew next to the shuttle, "You... this is your fault!"  
"What?" Matt replied over the radio, "I saved you!"  
"You also crushed and killed Goya! You also were careless and as a result millions of people are dead!" Minerva screamed, "I never want to see you again! Any Red Army vessels will be destroyed on sight! Get the hell out of my sight."  
"So if I ever help you again." Matt said, veering off and heading back for the Volga while Minerva cried for all the people killed.  
  
"It went bad didn't it?" Kaiser asked.  
"Meet me on the bridge, we're changing Red Dawn." Matt said, his face showed how angry he was.  
  
The Red Army disappeared as a year passed. Minerva took up residence on the colony Tiberius. Relations between the new Zeon and the Federation became slighly better but remained for the most part volitile. There had been no other assassination attempts on Minerva since the Volt incident. Over the course of a year a total of sixty asteroids left normal orbits and took up positions near Side Seven. The Federation, unable to find any reason for this, stationed a fleet of battleships with the asteroids to be safe. The Federation had been tipped off to the location of Fortress Moscow but when their assult fleet arrived they found nothing.  
  
On christmas the Red Army returned, this time revealing their true intentions. While most people were opening presents and celebrating the Volga was fully armed and sitting in a low orbit around the Earth. The ship sent out a signal that took over all the comms lines, radio stations and television broadcasts. Every television that was on had it's picture replaced with Matt's face. Every audio line went silent until Matt spoke.  
"People of Earth and the colonies, allow me to share a story with you on this Christmas morning. It's the story of a nation. A nation that was strong, a nation that in the nineteenth century stood up to the Grand Army of Napoleon and won when so many others fell before it. A nation that during the horrors of World War Two stood alone against the full brunt of the Nazi terror and held their ground until allied nations could assist. It's the story of a nation that was utterly destroyed by an unprovoked nuclear attack almost a century ago!" Matt said, his voice raising around the end, "In the year UC 0004 the nation of Russia changed into the Neo Soviet Union to better serve it's peoples need. Under the capitalist government life was better for a period of time, then suddenly plummeted into poverty. The workers rallied under Olaf Gregoran and forced a change in government. Immediately life improved immensly. But the western powers couldn't accept this. The United States launched an unprovoked nuclear strike on the Neo Soviet Union even after we opened our arms in friendship. We took no aggressive actions! Even after the attack we did not retaliate even though we had the nuclear capability to wipe them our as they had us! Yes I say we. My name is Mathias Romanov Gregoran, Great Grandson of Olaf Gregoran. The people of Zeon know me as the leader of the Red Army, now everyone will know me as General Mathias Gregoran, leader of the reborn Neo Soviet Union!"  
People watching on television could see as the cameras pulled away to reveal Matt, Vash, Kaiser and several others standing infront of a massive Neo Soviet flag wearing the traditional heavy brown overcoats of Soviet officers.   
"My Great Grandfather preached peace. I do not, I hereby declare war on the entire planet Earth!" Matt said, a smirk on his face, "Why the entire world and not just the continent of North America? Easy, when the United States attacked did anyone come to our aid? No! Every other nation just sat back and watched as over two hundred million Russians were slaughtered! We're coming for revenge. And any colony that aids the Earth will be destroyed. Merry Christmas."   
With that the transmission cut off leaving millions of people stunned.  
  
"He wouldn't, he couldn't, where would he get that type of manpower!?" Minerva asked, having seen the broadcast.  
"Lady Minerva! We're recieve reports that Side Seven has cut off all communication. I think they've joined the Neo Soviets." A Zeon officer said.  
"Wait, it all makes sense now." Minerva said, "When he said something big was coming, he meant this! Side Seven must have been their major base of operations over the last year! Who knows, maybe the building of Side Seven was a Neo Soviet plan all along."  
"Shall we mobilize?" The officer asked.  
"Yes, Mobilize everything but don't take any aggressive actions, maybe we can stay out of this." Minerva said.  
  
"Send out the order to the new fleet, tell them to destroy any Federation Vessels they spot." Matt said to the communications officer on the bridge, "Send the Message to all Earth-based forces to commence attacks and prepare to enter the atmosphere."  
"It's a glorious day." Vash said, leaning up against Matt.  
"Even more glorious when we have the Earth at it's knees." Matt said, "Set course for Lhasa, Tibet."  
"Da Comrade General." The navigator said.  
  
"This is bad." The Admiral of the Federation fleet watching the asteroids said.  
"Um.. sir, something odd is happening." A bridge officer said, pointing to the asteroids.  
Almost all at once the asteroids exploded revealing hidden shipyards. In each of the shipyards sat a completed Superbattleship almost identical to the Volga.   
"Oh crud." The Admiral said as sixty Superbattleships trained their weapons on his small fleet, "Battlestations!"  
Before the crews of the Federation fleet could even get to their positions the Neo Soviet fleet opened fire. After the first volley the entire Federation force was wiped out and the shipyards began to move into Side Seven escorted by the powerful Neo Soviet Fleet.  
  
"Sir!" A Federation Major said, handing a report to a Federation General.  
"What?" The General asked.  
"Sir, it's impossible!" The Major exclaimed, "We're getting reports of Mobile suits dropping onto Torrington Base, Fleet attacks on Luna Two and reports of soldiers, armor and mobile suits attacking from the Russian Wasteland!"  
"Impossible!" The general exclaimed.  
"Sir!" A second officer said, bursting into the room, "Reports from Fleet command, The Side Seven fleet monitoring the asteroids was just wiped out, they sent this picture."  
"Dear god..." The general said, looking at the image of the Neo Soviet fleet, "Contact all forces, full alert! He wasn't lying, but we'll teach him a lesson!"  
  
To be continued....  
  
Next Chapter - Federation Anarchy, Side One Strikes back!, Unexpected Enemies.


	5. Death Everywhere

Why Russia and the Soviet Union?  
I've always loved reading about Russia and the Soviet Union. To me it's always been a symbol of power. From the time Russia repelled Napoleons 'Grand Army' of over 600,000 men to when the USSR stood alone against the Nazis until the Allies could mount the Italy and D-Day invasions and after. I mean, how many other nations could have made the United States afraid like they did, mind you they (the soviets) were afraid of the US at the same time. Even today Russia and China are perhaps the only nations on the planet that could match (or beat)the United States in military power.  
  
Last time on the Red Army:  
  
The colony of Volt was destroyed in the final battle between Matt and Nex.  
Minerva turned her back on Matt and the Red Army forever.  
The Red Army revealed their true intentions.  
The war was on.  
  
The Red Army  
  
"We have to act fast!" A member of the Federation council almost screamed, "We don't have  
time for discussing it! They declared war on us and fired the first shots, now it is our job to show them no mercy!"  
"Settle down Bradshaw, I know you'd love to solve every problem with a gun but I've prevented many major conflicts with calm negotiations." The Federation president said, "I'm sure this Matt Gregoran fellow will listen to reason."  
  
Meanwhile, unknown to the council, the Volga took up a position a few miles above the city of Lhasa, Tibet, Capital of the Federation government.  
"Comrade Gregoran, The Federation Government is attempting to contact us." The communications officer said, "They do not know we are right over them yet."  
"Well then we won't keep them waiting." Matt said, pressing a button on the weapons control console.  
A single missile fired from the belly of the Volga and flew straight down. It impacted on the Council building and erupted into a nuclear fireball.  
"Take out the heart and the rest will die quickly." Vash said.  
"True, set course for Moscow" Matt said, "And tell the assult commanders to report in every ten minutes, I don't want this plan to screw up"  
  
"Ma'am!" A Zeon soldier exclaimed, dashing into the command center, "We just heard that Lhasa has been completely destroyed!"  
"How!" Minerva exclaimed, "When!"  
"A couple of hours ago, look at the photos." The soldier said, handing a large envelope to Minerva.  
"Send a message to all commanders." Minerva said, eyes wide at the photos of the nuclear blast, "High alert, destroy any Neo Soviet ships or units that cross our borders."  
"Yes Ma'am" The soldier said, running out again.  
"He's truely gone insane..." Minerva said, "Did I cause this?"  
"Don't even suggest that!" A man with an eye patch said.  
"I didn't even know you were there Remington." Minerva said, spinning around.  
"I want to ask your permission to do something." Remington said.  
"Depends on what it is." Minerva said.  
"Allow me to go to Earth and challenge Matt Gregoran, If we can take him out we may be able to completely demoralize the Neo Soviets." Remington said.  
"No! I want to stay out of this war unless absolutely neccessary!" Minerva exclaimed.  
"You're lying, you don't think I could do it." Remington laughed, "You do know that during the One Year War, shortly after Solomon was lost I ambushed the Gundam and crippled it? In a Zaku II no less. Had the Federation reinforcements not arrived then Amuro Rey would have been dead."  
"Alright, that was part of the reason, but I still want Zeon to stay out of the war." Minerva said.  
"My Omega Zaku has no markings showing it's Zeon." Remington said, "Please allow me to go."  
"Fine." Minerva said, raising her voice, "Is there any clue as to where Matt is now?"  
"We assume he's still on the Volga, which was last spotted heading towards the Russian Wastelands after destroying Lhasa." A comms officer said, "If you want my opinion you should send Remington to Berlin, the Neo Soviet advance has stalled there it seems. Poland, Finland, Norway and Sweden have already been occupied and the Ukraine has surrendered and joined the Neo Soviets."   
"You heard him, get moving to Berlin." Minerva said as Remington left.  
  
The Russian Wastelands, left blackened and dead following the Nuclear storm, was finally beginning to return to life. In almost the century that had past the radiation levels had dropped and life began to slowly return. Trees began growing again, animals migrated back, and so now had humans. After Russia was rendered uninhabitable the nations of the the Earth turned their backs on it. Spy satellites that were almost constantly pointed at it were moved to new locations, flights by spy planes were halted. A person could do almost anything without being detected. In this case it involved moving and landing the space fortress Moscow on the ruins of the city of Moscow and landing an army.  
"Comrade, Commander Grigor reports that his advance has been halted in Berlin." A Neo Soviet Comms officer said.  
"Why?" Matt asked.  
"It appears the Federation forces are being backed by the civilian population, I guess they don't want to be part of our glorious empire." The comms officer said with a chuckle, "And more recently it appears a mercenary mobile suit has joined the fight, several Primus and Vostok suits have been destroyed by it."  
"Tell Commander Grigor that anyone who raises arms against us is a target." Matt said, "Let nothing live! I'll take care of the mercenary."  
"Da Comrade" The comms officer said, "And Commander Natasha reports that Torrington base has fallen and it's nuclear weapons cache is in our hands and out of the Federations'"  
"Excellent, send word to our assult base on Antarctica, tell them to begin the invasion of South America." Matt said, "Vash, I'm trusting the safety of Moscow to you, I have no doubt the Federation will attempt to destroy Moscow once they find out about it."  
"It will be as you left it." Vash said, smirking slyly, "I'll await your return"  
Matt kissed her forehead then walked off toward the Mobile suit deck to take off in the Grand Tsar.  
  
"Admiral Rustov, We are detecting a large fleet of Federation ships heading towards us." The science officer of the NSS Stalingrad, flagship of the warfleet, said.  
"Where did it originate from?" Admiral Rustov asked, "And how large?"  
"It appears to have originated from Side One." The science officer said, "In terms of size it contains at least seventy five battleship class vessels, thirty assult carriers and numerous smaller destroyers and frigates, it is no threat to our fleet."  
"So Side One turns it's back on our offer to leave the colonies alone. Very well, you know what we must do." Admiral Rustov said, quietly turning and walking back to his chair, "Intercept the fleet, then destroy Side One"  
"Da Comrade Admiral" The navigator said.  
  
The Grand Tsar quickly flew low to the ground and approached the smoldering German capital of Berlin. It's colors had changed from the sparkling white it used to be to solid black with the exception of the edge of the wings, which were painted blood red. As the ground zipped by Matt could see the fierce fighting as the beige and white uniformed Federation soldiers clashed with the black and red uniformed Neo Soviets. Out of nowhere a chain flew at the Tsar and wrapped around it's leg. The suit went crashing to the ground, flattening several buildings as it skidded.  
"The hell?" Matt asked no one, rubbing his head, his suit mimicing his actions.  
Again seemingly out of nowhere a suit flew at the Tsar, an Omega Zaku. The Zaku landed hard on the back of the Tsar, sending sparks flying.  
"Quite a compromising position you're in Mr. Gregoran." Remington said, his suit stomping down a few times, "I thought you were supposed to be good, What happened the the mobility you used to kill Major Nex?"  
"Who the hell are you!" Matt asked.  
"Why should I say when you're about to die." Remington said, activating his suits energy scythe and holding it up above his head.  
"You think you can hit me with a surprise attack that's it?" Matt asked, laughing slightly as the Tsars verniers blasted to life and knocked the Zaku off it's back, "Tell me, how is it possible a guy like you crippled the Gundam, Remington?"  
"What! How did you know who I was!" Remington exclaimed, landing with his scythe still activated.  
"What do you think I've been doing for the past year!" Matt laughing as his Tsar landed with it's blades drawn and active, "Sitting around! Nope! I've been researching every living Ace suit pilot there is and you're the only one who doesn't use a customized suit!"  
"So, You're still going to die boy." Remington growled as his Zaku charged the Tsar.  
"We'll see." Matt smirked charging with the Tsar.  
  
"We're in range, the Federation fleet is still approaching at top speed." The science officer said to Admiral Rustov.  
"Excellent, lock targets and open fire." Admiral Rustov said, "Our weapons are superior and have a much longer range, The enemy won't stand a chance."  
  
"They've been going at it for over an hour..." A Federation soldier said watching the Tsar and the Omega Zaku try to destroy eachother.  
"Yeah." A second said, "Is it just me or does it seem like all the Neo Soviets have disappeared?"  
"It's not just you, something's not right." The first said.  
  
"They didn't even get a single shot off." Admiral Rustov said, sipping a glass of vodka with the rest of his bridge crew while the Stalingrad flew through the massive field of debris that remained from the Side One fleet.   
"This just goes further to prove how unstoppable we truely are." The comms officer said.  
"Yes, but now to punish those who stand against us!" Admiral Rustov exclaimed, "You know where to go."  
As the fleet passed through the debris field a small shuttle snuck in with them, using the larger pieces of wreckage as cover. Skillfully the little shuttle made it's way undetected to an object floating intact in the field. Wires shot out of the shuttle and secured to the object, a mobile suit, a prototype Gundam. A person in a red normal suit passed between the two and entered the Gundam's cockpit. The wires retracted and the shuttle drifted off, now dead in space. The eyes of the Gundam lit up as it came to life and then rocketed towards the planets surface.  
  
The colony of Utopia's Bliss, located on the fringe of Side One. Millions of people living looked off into space at the dazzling lightshow. The colonists waited in hopes of seeing their fleet return from a swift victory. After some time a fleet became visible and a great cheer erupted. The cheer silenced as a group of bright lights sped towards the colony, impacting on the glass that seperated the colonists from the deadly vaccuum of space. The glass shattered and the air began to be sucked out along with almost everything not bolted down, including the colonists. Another volley of fire and Utopia's Bliss erupted into a massive fireball. Moments later the Neo Soviet fleet flew past the new field of debris and split into two equal forces, each setting course for another colony.  
  
Remingtons Omega Zaku suddenly made a slight error and the Tsar managed to catch it with a beam blast. The Zaku fell to the ground with it's left knee join sparking and smoking.  
"I must admit you were tough, but in the end I proved to be superior." Matt said as the Tsar walked towards the downed Zaku with a beam gun drawn, "If you're the best Zeon has to offer then Minerva is helpless just like the Federation."  
"Just shut up and finish it." Remington said, sitting back to accept his defeat and death.  
The Tsar raised it's weapon and the barrel began to glow. Suddenly a beam came from the sky and cleanly severed the Tsars arm.  
"Who dares!" Matt snapped, leaping his suit back. He looked around in time to catch a white and blue blur zip by beside him, "Stop hiding!"  
Suddenly the speeding blur slowed and gently dropped to the ground, beam sabre drawn and funnels hovering right behind it.  
"Who are you!" Matt snapped as the funnels bolted towards his suit. The Tsar flew back, barely keeping pace with the small weapons. Matt skillfully fired his head vulcans at the funnels, one by one destroying them while dodging their shots. Once all the funnels had been destroyed Matt turned his attention back to Remington and the mysterious Gundam only to find them gone. Alarms went off in his cockpit and he turned again to see swarms of Federation suits and tanks headed at him.  
"Hmmm, all is going to plan." Matt said, launching his suit into the air and speeding away from Berlin, passing a single missile headed towards the city.  
  
"We've done it!" A Federation soldier exclaimed, "We've forced them back!"  
"Let's drive them back to the wastelands!" Another exclaimed.  
"No! Let's slaughter them all!" A third said, before seeing the missile, "Oh crap..."  
  
"Vash, report." Matt said, having arrived back in Moscow sometime after the battle in Berlin.  
"We control Europe." Vash said, a sly smirk on her face, "After we nuked Berlin the majority of the European nations declared themselves independant of the Federation and now are surrendering to us."  
"Excellent news, and in Space?" Matt asked.  
  
"Impossible, How could any person order such a deed?" Minerva said, "All of Side One destroyed...we can't let this continue."  
"What are your orders?" A fleet admiral asked.  
"Contact the Federation, tell them that Zeon will join them in an all out assult on the Neo Soviets." Minerva said, "Mobilize everything! We will avenge Side One and all the others who have died!"  
"That's what we've been waiting to hear." A General said, heading out to follow the orders.  
"Pray we don't meet in battle Gregoran, because if we do then I will do whatever it takes to ensure you die." Minerva said, staring at the monitors, "What ever it takes....."  
  
To be continued.....  
  



End file.
